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The Relation of Archaeology and History 

By Carl Russell Fish, Ph. D. 



[From the Proceedings or the State Historical Societ\- of Wiscon^ 
page- 14^- ' '-''! 



Mad^son 
Published by the Societ^ 




» ~:^ 



. A 






[Separate No. 140] 



The Relation of Archaeology and History 
By Carl Russell Fish, Ph. D. 



[From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1 9 10 
pages 1 46- 1 52] 



Madison 

Published by the Society 

191 1 



Wisconsin Historical Society 



Relation of Archaeology and 
History' 



By Carl Russell Fish, Ph. D. 

The derivation of the word archcrology gives little idea of its 
present use. ' ' The study of antiquity " is at once too broad in 
scope and too limited in time — for the followers of a dozen other 
"ologies" are studying antiquity, while the archseologist does not 
confine himself to that period. The definition of the word in the 
Neiv English Dictionary corrects the first of these errors, but em- 
phasizes the second, for it describes it as, "The scientific study 
of remains and monuments of the prehistoric period. ' ' This ob- 
viously will not bear examination, for the bulk of archaeological 
endeavor falls within the period which is considered historical ; I 
cannot conceive any period prehistoric, about which archaeology, 
or any other science, can give us information. Actually, time 
has nothing whatever to do with the limitations of archaeology; 
to think of it as leaving off where history begins, is to miscon- 
ceive them both. The only proper limitation upon archaeology 
lies in its subject matter. I conceive that it cannot further be 
defined than as, "The scientific study of human remains and 
monuments. ' ' 

In considering the relations of the science to history, I do not 
wish to enter into anj^ war of words as to the claims of " soci- 
ology^," "anthropology," and "history" to be the inclusive word, 
covering the totality of man's past, but simply to use history as 
it is generally understood at present, and as its professors act 
upon it. Certainly we are no longer at the stage where history 



1 First read before the Wisconsin Archaeological Society at Madison, 
July 29, 1910. 

[146] 



Archaeology and History 



•could be defined as "past polities; " it is equally certain that 
there are fields of human activity which are not actually treated 
in any adequate way by the historian. The relations of the two 
do not depend on the definition of history ; the more broadly it is 
interpreted, the more intimate their relationship becomes. The 
sources of history are three-fold : written, spoken, and that which 
is neither written nor spoken. 

To preserve and prepare the first, is the business of the philolo- 
gist, the archivist, the paleographer, the editor, and experts in a 
dozen subsidiary sciences. The historian devotes so much the 
larger part of his time to this class of material, that the period 
for which written materials exists is sometimes spoken of as the 
^'historical period," and the erroneous ideas of archieology which 
I have quoted, become comm.on. 

Least important of the three, is the spoken or traditional; al- 
though if we include all the material that was passed down for 
centuries by word of mouth before being reduced to writing, such 
as the Homeric poems or the Norse sagas, it includes some of the 
most interesting things we know of the past. In American his- 
tory, such material deals chiefly with the Indian civilizations, and 
its collection is carried on chiefly by the anthropologists. In ad- 
dition, nearly every family preserves a mass of oral traditions 
running back for about a hundred years; and there is a small 
body of general information, bounded by about the same limit, 
which has never yet been put into permanent form. The win- 
nowing of this material, to secure the occasional kernels of his- 
toric truth that it yields, is as yet a neglected function. 

The material that is neither written nor oral, falls to the geol- 
ogist and the archaeologist. Between these two sciences there is 
striking similarity, but their boundaries are clear: the geologist 
deals with natural phenomena, the archaeologist Avith that which 
is human, and v/hich may, for convenience, be called monumental. 
The first duty of the archaeologist is to discover such material 
and to verify it ; the next is to secure its preservation, preferably 
its actual tangible preservation — but if that is not possible, by 
ilesf-ription. Then comes the task of studying it, classifying and 
arranging it, and making it ready for use. At this point the 
function of the archreologist ceases, and the duty of the historian 
begins — to interpret it, and to bring it into harmony with the 

r 147 1 • 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

recognized body of information regarding the past. It is not 
necessary in every case, that different individuals do these dif- 
ferent things. We must not press specialization too far. Nearly 
every historian should be something of an archagologist, and 
every archffiologist should be something of an historian. When 
the archoeologist ceases from the preparation of his material, and 
begins the reconstruction of the past, he commences to act as an 
historian ; he has to call up a new range of equipment, a new set 
of qualifications. 

The fields in which the services of archseology are most appre- 
ciated, are those to which written and oral records do not reach. 
Its contributions in pressing back the frontier of knowledge are 
incalculable, and are growing increasingly so with every passing* 
year. To say nothing of what it has told us of the civilizations 
of Egypt and Assyria, it has given to history within the last few 
years the whole great empire of the Hittites. We have learned 
more of Mycenaean civilization from archaeology, than from 
Homer. Practically all we know of the Romanization of Britain 
is from such sources, and that process, not long ago regarded al- 
most as a myth, is now a well-articulated bit of history. In 
America, within the last thirty-five years, by the joint work of 
the archaeologist and the anthropologist, many of the points long 
disputed concerning the Indians have been set at rest; more 
knowledge of them has been recovered than was ever before sup- 
posed possible; new questions have been raised, which incite re- 
newed activity. From all over the world, moreover, remains of 
the past, amounting to many times those now known, call for in- 
vestigation. It is safe to say that within the next fifty years 
more sensational discoveries will be made by following material^ 
rather than written, records. 

It is, however, not only in the periods void of written sources^ 
that archaeology can perform its services. It is in the period 
of classical antiquity that we find the combination happiest. 
There, indeed, it is difficult to find an historian who does not 
lay archreology under tribute, or an archaeologist who is not 
lively to the historical bearing of his work. When we come to 
the medieval period, the situation is less ideal ; the historian tends 
to pay less attention to monuments, and the archaeologist be- 
comes an antiquarian, intent upon minutia, and losing sight of 

[148] 



Archaeology and History 



his ultimate duty. In the modern period, the historian, self-sat- 
isfied with the richness of his written sources, ignores all others ; 
and the archaeologist, always with a lingering love for the un- 
usual and for the i-ust of time, considers himself absolved from 
further work. 

As one working in this last period, I vrish to call the attention 
of American archfeologists to some possibilities that it offers. 
Abundant as are our sources, they do not tell, the whole story of 
the last couple of -centuries, even in America; we have monu- 
ments wheh are worthy of preservation, and which can add to 
our knowledge of our American ancestors, as well as of our In- 
dian predecessors. Even in Wisconsin, something may be ob- 
tained from such sources. 

The most interesting of our monumental remains are, of 
course, the architectural. Everybody is familiar with the log 
cabin, although something might yet be gathered as to the sites 
selected for them, and minor differences in construction. Less 
familiar is the cropping out of the porch in front, the spreading 
of the ell behind, and the two lean-to wings, then the sheathing 
with clap-boards, the evolution of the posts into Greek columns, 
and the clothing of the whole with white paint, all representing 
stages in the prosperity of the occupants. In nearly every older 
AVisconsin township may be found buildings representing every 
one of these stages — the older ones indicating poor land or un- 
thrifty occupants, and being generally remote from the township 
centre, or else serving as minor farm buildings, in the rear of 
more pretentious frame or brick structures. In the same way 
the stump fence, the snake fence, and the wire fence, denote 
either advance or retardation of progress. Other studies of 
economic value may be made from the use of different kinds of 
building materials. The early use of local stone, is one of the 
features of Madison ; its subsequent disuse was due not so much 
to the difficulty of quarrying as to the decreased cost of trans- 
portation, making other materials cheaper, and was coincident 
with the arrival of the railroads. Very interesting material 
could be obtained from the abandoned river towns, which still 
preserve the appearance of fifty years ago, and furnish us with 
genuine American ruins. 

On the whole, the primitive log cabins were necessarily much 

[149 1 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

alike; but v/hen the log came to be superceded by more flexible 
material, the settler's first idea was to reproduce the home or the 
ideal of his childhood, and the house tends to reveal the national- 
ity^ of its builder. Just about Madison, there are farm houses as 
unmistakably of New England as if found in the ''Old Colony," 
and others as distinctly of Pennsylvania or the South. I am 
told of a settlement of Comishmen, which they have made abso- 
lutely characteristic ; even the automobilist may often distinguish 
the first Wisconsin home of the German, the Englishman, or the 
Dutchman. "Where have our carpenters, our masons, and finish- 
ers come from, and what tricks of the trade have each contrib- 
uted? 

Such studies reveal something also of the soul of the people. 
Not so much in America, to be sure, as in Europe, where national 
and individual aspirations find as legitimate expression in archi- 
tecture, as in poetry ; and less here in the West, which copied its 
fashions, than in the East, which imported them. Still, we have 
a few of the Greek-portieoed buildings which were in part a re- 
flection of the influence of the first French Republic, and in part 
represented the admiration of the Jeffersonian democracy for the 
republics of Greece; but before Wisconsin was settled, that style 
had almost passed away. We have a number of the composite 
porticoed and domed buildings, which succeeded and represented 
perhaps the kinship between the cruder democracy of Jackson 
and that of Rome. We have many buildings, both public and 
private — some, extremely beautiful — which reflect the days in 
the middle of the nineteenth century, when the best minds in 
America drew inspiration from the Italy of the Renaissance, 
when Story and Crawford, and Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller 
lived and worked in Rome. The succeeding period is every- 
where illustrated, when the French mansard stands for the dom- 
inating influence on things artistic (or rather, inartistic) of the 
Second Empire. The revival of English influence, is indicated 
in the Queen Anne style; the beginning of general interest in 
American history, in the colonial ; the influence of the W^ar with 
Spain, in the square cement. Many other waves of thought and 
interest, can be pointed out in almost any town. A careful study 
of its architecture will nearly always reveal the approximate 
date of foundation, the periods of prosperity and depression, the 

[ 150 1 



Archaeology and History 



origin of the inhabitants, and many other facts of real import- 
ance. 

I have thus far spoken of the contribution of archaeology to the 
science of histor5^ Fully as great, are its possibilities along the 
lines of popularization and illustration. The work of neither 
archseology nor history can proceed without popular support, 
and the local appeal is one of the strongest that can be made. 
Not every town has an interesting history ; but almost every one, 
however ugly, can be made historically interesting to its inhabit- 
ants if its streets can be made to tell its history, and by reflec- 
tion something of the history pf the country; this may be done 
merely by opening their eyes to their chirography. It should be 
part of the hope of the local archaeologist to make his neighbors 
and his neighbor's children see history in everything about them; 
If this is accomplished, we may hope gradually to arouse a deeper 
and more scientific interest, and a willingness to encourage that 
research into the whole past, in which historian and archasologist 
are jointly interested. 

On a recent visit to Lake Koshkonong, I found my interest 
much stimulated by a certain admirable map, and some plates 
illustrating the Indian life about its shores. It has occurred to 
me that one extremely valuable way of arousing general interest 
and of arranging our arehaBological data, would be in a series of 
such minute maps. For instance, the first in the series would give 
purely the physical features ; the next, on the same scale, would 
add our Indian data — mounds, village sites, cultivated fields, 
arrow factories, battlefields, trails, and any. other indications that 
might appear; then, one on the entrance of the white men, with 
trading posts, garrisons, first settlements and roads; the next 
would begin with the schoolhouse and end with the railroad ; and 
one or two others would complete the set. Such studies of the 
material changes of a locality, would not form an embellishment, 
but the basis of its history. 

Another work might be undertaken through the local high 
school. The pupils might be encouraged to take photographs of 
houses, fences,' bridges, and other objects — interesting for the 
reasons I have pointed out— as well as all objects of aboriginal 
interest. These should always be dated, and the place where 
they were taken noted. In fact, a map should be used, and by 

[1511 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

numbers or some such device, the pictures localized. These 
photographs, properly classified and arranged, would give such 
a picture of the whole life of the community in terms of tangible 
remains, as could not fail to interest its inhabitants as well as 
serve the student. In the newer portions of the State, particu- 
larly in the north, it would be povssible to take pictures of the first 
clearing, and then file these away; a few years later, one could 
take another picture of the farmstead, with its improvements — 
and so on, until it reached a condition of stability. Thus to pro- 
ject into the future the work of a science whose name suggests 
antiquity, may seem fantastic, but even the future will ultimately 
become antiquity. We have still in Wisconsin, some renmants of 
a frontier stage of civilization which is passing and cannot be re- 
produced, and it cannot be held superfluous to provide materials 
to express it to the future. If we may imagine the joy that it 
would give to us to find a photograph of the site of Rome before 
that city was built, or of one of the great Indian villages of Wis- 
consin before the coming of the white man, we may form a con- 
ception of the value to the future student of the civilization of 
our own day of such an ordered and scientific collection as I have 
suggested. 



[152] 



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